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HARJO’S “BARKING WATER” A POETIC ROAD MOVIE ABOUT COMING HOME
11/09/2009
Sterling Harjo’s Barking Water is a quintessentially American film, though about an America that most people, especially outside the US, have probably never seen. But that did not stop audiences from expressing their heartfelt enthusiasm at the film’s international premiere in Venice Days.
In this road movie through the wide-open scenery of Harjo’s native Oklahoma, Frankie (Richard Ray Whitman), a terminally ill Native American, travels south with his long-time, on-again/off-again love Irene (Casey Camp-Horinek), in the hopes of seeing his daughter and grandchild before dying. But the film is as much a story about a relationship between an older couple, something the director says is hardly ever seen onscreen.
Harjo – who is half Seminole, half Creek and even has an Italian-American grandfather –says he improvised a lot while making this film, which is simultaneously minimalist and full of life, and adds a strong voice to both independent US filmmaking and Native American art. He adds: “although the film is culturally specific, the story is universal. I think that audiences everywhere, like here in Venice, can relate to death, love and life.”
Producer Chad Burris told audiences that “in order to create as much space as possible in the 17 days we had to shoot, we used a light crew, of 10-11 people, small HD cameras, a lot of which were hand-held, and mostly natural light.”
The film was made for under $200,000, the credits are full of Harjo’s family members, yet Barking Water never feels makeshift. One reason was the skillful use of Oklahoma’s natural (though often dying) beauty and the film’s very structure. “I’ve always like road movies, such as Two-Lane Blacktop, which I made the actors watch,” admits Harjo. “But you can also increase the production value of a low-budget story more if you use the landscape rather than have everyone sitting in a room.”
Nevertheless, the film would not be nearly as powerful if not for its well-crafted, well-directed story and main characters. Neither Whitman nor Camp-Horinek had much acting experience, but embody their characters fully. Whitman is particularly moving in the role of a troublemaker at the end of his life, who for better or for worse has always lived by his impulses, and now wants to die on his own terms as well.
The film mixes in flashbacks that are sepia-toned or B&W but never feel forced, and the beautiful soundtrack (which includes Oklahoma singers Fiawna Forte and Samantha Crane) adds much to the film’s poetry. In one particularly moving scene, Frankie tells Irene that what he misses most about being young is the magic. Which is precisely what Harjo gives us through this journey.
Barking Water will be distributed in the US this autumn by Lorber HT.
In the Photogallery (left), pictures from the presentation in Venice
Report by Natasha Senjanovic for
www.cineuropa.org
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